A top aide to former Springfield Mayor Michael Albano was indicted on tax fraud charges and within 24 hours the mayor of nearby Chicopee was arrested and charged with extortion.

Anthony Ardolino was former mayor Albano’s chief of staff from 1996 to 2001 and for years federal investigators have been looking into fraud and corruption within that administration. Prosecutors say he used his power and influence to fix parking tickets for his cronies and close deals with reputed mobsters while pocketing thousands of tax-free dollars from two downtown bars.

In all, he hid about $725,000 in income from the Internal Revenue Service, resulting in a $250,000 loss in tax revenue to the federal government.

Richard Goyette, the mayor of Chicopee (a working-class city of about 50,000 and home to Westover Air Base), is accused of extorting $10,000 in campaign contributions just one week before Election Day…

The FBI says Goyette accepted two illegal campaign contributions of $5,000 each from two business owners although the maximum allowed by law is $500.